Improved railway-signal



UNITED STATES PATENT Prion.

IMPROVED RAILWAY-SIGNAL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 53,651, dated April 3, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK FRANCIS MIL- LIGAN, of Washington, in the county of Washington and District of Columbia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in my Compound High-Water and Deflection Indioator for Bridges, Culverts, 850., on Railroads, patented on the 18th day of December, 1860; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specificationfin which- Figure l is a perspective view, Fig. 2 a transverse section, and Fig. 3 a top transverse sectional view, of the old claim for guarding both sides of the bridge, &c., in which the series of wheels A B C D and pinions I) c d, axle a, chains a; x, and lamp E, Fig. 1, constitute the parts by which the deflection-lamp gives the desired signal, and which is explained in the original specification.

In Fig.2, a b C B represent the abutment or piers of a bridge trestle-work or other support for a railroad-track, E being the side piece, and H a transverse brace keeping the uprights F G parallel with each other. S S are the two main timbers or girders which cross the spans of a bridge or culvert, and P is a light bar crossing under them to receive the two long iron screws with top a a and n a.

C is the cross-tie, and r r the two iron rails. :17 a: a- 00 is a continuation of the same chain, running from the axle a of the series of wheels in Fig. l and over the pulley D, taking the iron screw 11, at D. Again, a chain linked on passes over the pulley C and under the timbers of the bridge, over the pulley A, and up to the pulley B, over which it passes, and down again to the other iron screw n. Also, two chains start from the iron screws a a and over the pulleys E F, linking onto the main chain at A F.

In Fig. 3, r is a horizontal bar, supported by the brace S, and holding two pulleys, over which the chain w had to pass, and taking the two iron screws n a, in which case the framework had to be sufficiently high to allow a train of cars to pass under it.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and apply my improvement, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

In order to more thoroughly guard a railroad-track and have the machine capable of being applied not only to bridges, culverts, trestle-work, 850., but to apply it to any part of the track where there may be danger of a washing away or shifting to either one side or the other, having the machine, as in the original patent, applied to either side of the track, I erect on the other side asuitable frame-work along the edge of the track, which need not be over two feet over the level thereof, as at F, Fig. 2, H being a transverse brace to the timber G, E being a side piece running parallel with the track. From the axle a of the series of wheels in Fig. 1 I carry a chain, 00, over the pulleyD, taking the eye of an iron screw with top passing loosely through the light bar P under the girders of the track-frame. This guards this side from deflection, being unnoticed but to guard the other side and seemingly suspend the track .on both sides, I link the chain at the pulley D, and passing it over the pulley C and under the track to the pulley A, over which it goes, up to the pulley B, and over it down to the iron screw n in the other end of the light bar P. It will be seen that a weight suspended from this end of the chain will have the same effect on the axle a of the series of wheels in Fig.1 as it suspended from said axle, less the friction. By this both sides of the bridge are guarded without the great expense of raising frame-work to allow the trains to pass.

Again, I pass two iron screws through the side girders s s, or through a timber made fast to the ends of the cross-ties, where the machine is applied to the track to guard against land-slides, and they pass loosely. To these I link a chain, 8, and pass it over the pulley F, and a chain, 7', and pass it round the pulley E and linked to the main chain at A and F respectively. N ow, in case the track washes to the left the chain at F will act, and if it moves to the right the chain at A will act. Thus the signal-light E, Fig. 1, acted on by the series of wheels A B C D and pinions b c d and axle a, is equally effected by the action of the chains 00 00 at the iron screws a n and by the action of the chains 4 s at the iron screws a a. These screws have screw enough to allow for the contraction of the chain in cold weather or the natural deflection of a bridge while a train is passing over it.

Where the part of the track supposed to In combination with the frame-work on both sides of the railroad-track the chains 8 and a: and their supporting-pulleys and bolts, whereby they are attached to the timber-supports beneath the railroad-track, the Whole constructed and arranged as herein described and set forth.

PATRICK FRANCIS MILLIGAN.

WVitnesses:

DAVID FLYNN, J. A. NEcKER. 

